


Language

by JacarandaBanyan



Series: Tony Stark Bingo [3]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Bucky Barnes discovers a Shiny New Kink, Cuddling & Snuggling, Established Relationship, Language Kink, M/M, Sleepy Cuddles, Tony Stark Bingo 2018, Tony's still a tech genius, prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-05
Updated: 2018-09-05
Packaged: 2019-07-07 05:57:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15902259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JacarandaBanyan/pseuds/JacarandaBanyan
Summary: Bucky discovers a shiny new kink when Tony gives an international press conference.





	Language

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt fill for Tony Stark Bingo, S4 square, "AU: angels/demons."

"...And so as of tomorrow, the Iron Legion will be available for humanitarian efforts across the globe. Now, while they will be available for any disaster zone that may need them, we know that hurricane season is fast approaching. That's why Stark Industries anticipates launching the program in the South and/or the Caribbean to help with evacuation, rescue missions, and initial reconstruction, and have therefore already moved the Legion down here. More details on what reconstruction will look like will be announced once the Stark Industries- Caribbean Independent Engineering Science and Research Institute joint assessment is completed." 

Tony smiled wide for the cameras. Bucky was pretty sure he was the only one who knew how much effort had gone into this project- all the long teleconferences with disaster workers and various heads of state, redesigning the Legion to be better suited to non-aggressive tasks, the intense research period with the Caribbean institute, and the different data-usage conferences, among other things, had kept his boyfriend busy for months now. 

And all that hard work was finally going to pay off.

"Now, does anyone have any questions?"

Journalists surged to their feet and the room exploded with shouted questions. For a second, the sea of reporters seemed to Bucky like a single, pulsing creature, covered in bristling microphone spines. Then Tony held up his hands and the noise fell away. 

“You,” he said, pointing at a Chinese reporter in the third row. 

The woman stood up and asked him a question in rapid-fire Mandarin. Bucky looked around for the translator that was surely around here somewhere, but couldn’t see one. Maybe Tony had some sort of translating software in his earpiece? That seemed like a potentially bad idea. Just the other night Tony had been complaining over dinner about the limitations that still dogged translation software despite the leaps and bounds by which it had improved. 

_ “I swear to a god I don’t even believe it, Bucky, one moment it’s handling agglutinative synthetic languages to analytical and back again just fine and you think everything’s hunky dory, and the next it thinks all doctors are men and wants to argue with the source text. Every time you think you’ve gotten there, they just go to show that there’s no replacement for actually learning the language.” _

Bucky smiled at the memory. His boyfriend was such a cute nerd, especially when he was free to just talk instead of having to sell each and every idea. 

The woman finished her question, and to Bucky’s intense surprise Tony answered her directly, also in Mandarin. In really, really nice Mandarin. Bucky couldn’t have said if his boyfriend was answering the question or listing off the ingredients to his favorite meal, but whatever he was saying he said in such a controlled way, with careful tones that echoed in Bucky’s ears like clear, beautiful bells. His heart skipped a beat. 

The woman nodded and sat down. Tony pointed at a heavyset blonde man, who stood and asked his question in Russian. Once again Tony replied in kind. Bucky’s eyes roamed greedily over his mouth, watching his pretty lips carefully shape each sound. He was nearly overcome with the desire to get up on the stage and start kissing him. He dug his fingernails into his palms to distract himself. 

The questions continued like this. French, Hindi, Spanish, Japanese, Italian, Housa, Vietnamese, Xhosa, German, one language after another. Tony always replied in the language the question was asked in. 

Bucky was starting to feel an awful lot like one of those animated gags where a person was faced with temptation and asked for advice from the angel and demon on their shoulders. 

“Go up there and kiss him senseless,” the demon on his shoulder would say. “You’re in a room full of reporters looking for a juicy story. Go ahead and give them what they want. Romance is a good story, right?”

“This is important to Tony,” the angel would reply, “so don’t mess this up because you’re thinking with your dick.”

“But  _ kisses!” _ The demon would insist. “Kisses from that gorgeous mouth. And dirty talk. Dirty talk is a must. Did you hear him speaking Italian with that reporter with the pink hair? It was like chocolate but for your ears!”

“You can last a little while without kisses,” the angel would reply, “and he’s not going to magically forget how to speak those languages as soon as this conference ends. Save the foreign language dirty talk for later, when you two are alone and not at a very important conference.”

A reporter wearing a gorgeous sari stood to ask the next question. It must have been a complicated one, or perhaps Tony just liked the question. Bucky could have sworn he’d seen her somewhere before. Was she from one of those documentary series he and Tony sometimes fell asleep watching? If she was, maybe she’d just asked a good science question. Tony tended to give longer answers to technical questions. 

Bucky shifted in his seat. His boyfriend just sounded so competent, firing off answers and bantering with the reporters in their own languages. How could he not be attracted to competence? 

He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his phone so he could send off a pleading text to Steve.

_ Hey Steve, I need you to draw a cartoon version of myself decked out as and angel and a devil and put them on my shoulders like I’m having a dilemma.  _

_ Why? _ Steve replied moments later.

_ My boyfriend is so hot right now, and I can’t do anything until all the stuffy business stuff is over. _

A few lengthy questions later, his best friend replied with a picture of exactly the drawing he’d had in mind.

Good old Steve.

Maybe if he asked nicely, Tony would moan and beg in some unknown tongue while he blew him? He looked back up at the podium, where Tony had moved on to speaking Romanian, and shivered. Yes, if he could get him to talk just like that, Bucky was willing to give him just about whatever he wanted. 

As discretely as he could, he let himself out the back door so he could be waiting upstairs when the conference ended. 

* * *

Tony exited the elevator with a piece of tech flipping between his fingers and unfocused eyes. Bucky recognized the look from other times when his body had energy to burn but his soul was exhausted. He rushed over and grabbed his boyfriend’s hand and steered him towards the bedroom. If he could get Tony’s heart rate down a little, there was a good chance he’d just keel over and sleep until his mind was recharged.

“You did a good job, doll. I didn’t understand much of what was coming out of your mouth, but those reporters sure looked charmed.”

“Yeah, I like doing the international press releases like that. If it’s all in English, then they all get caught up on one thing, asking questions in response to answers I just gave, trying to wear me down. And sometimes stuff gets lost in translation, and before you know it we’ve gotta put out fires on multiple continents. It’s no fun, I tell you,” Tony muttered. 

“It doesn’t sound like it,” Bucky said soothingly. 

Tony collapsed face-first on the bed. He kept talking, though his voice was muffled now. 

“When I just answer their questions in their own language, there’s no chance of mistranslation, and they can quote me exactly on the things that matter. They ask me the questions they think are important for  _ their _ readers rather than dogpiling on a single thing. Plus, it gets me on their good side, even if it’s just subconsciously. And they’ve all got recording devices anyway, so it’s not like they can’t translate my other answers later.”

Bucky settled down next to Tony and pulled him flush against his stomach. 

“Well, it’s very impressive. When you wake up tomorrow, have Steve show you the drawing he did for me. I think you’ll like it.”

“Why wait? We’re here now, show me!” Bucky ducked away from his boyfriend’s grabby hands, smiling but trying not to laugh. If he wound Tony up, he’d never fall asleep. 

“Unlike you,” he replied, “I don’t sleep with my phone under my pillow.” He dodged Tony’s sleepily raised arms and pressed their noses together. “Now go to sleep. You’ve spent weeks declaring ‘sleep is for the weak’ and I’ve let you because it was important, but now you’ve gotta let your body rest sweetheart.”

“Spoilsport,” Tony muttered, half asleep already. “Can you at least tell me what he drew?” He snuggled closer and ducked his head under Bucky’s chin.

“It was me with a shoulder angel and a shoulder demon.”

“I love it already. You have a very expressive face, if Steve captured even a fraction of that then I bet it’s the most hilarious thing he’s ever drawn.”

Bucky hummed quietly and rested his arm a little more heavily on Tony’s chest. As he watched, his eyes fluttered like butterfly wings, then slid shut. His breathing began to even out, and Bucky relaxed. Mission accomplished. In a few REM cycles those dark circles under his eyes would be lighter and Tony wouldn’t try to enter simulation start codes into the microwave sleep deprivation anymore. 

As he started to drift off himself, a thought occurred to Bucky.

What if Tony sleep-talked in foreign languages?


End file.
